Ombudsman initiated proceedings over the beating of Romani people at the Kyiv railway station

The Office of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights initiated proceedings on the case of beatings of a group of Romani, Hungarian and Ukrainian people, who were planning to leave for Transcarpathia, on the night of May 24.

As reported by reporter of the Human Rights Information Centre, this was stated by Aksana Filipishyna, Representative of the Commissioner for observance of the rights of the child, non-discrimination and gender equality, at a briefing in Kyiv.

As reported earlier, a group of 30 people was beaten by unknown people in military outfits. They were also searched the group and confiscated their money.

“Mostly children and women were among them. Children were sprayed with a pepper spray”, – said Petro Grygorichenko, President of the Congress of Roma of Ukraine.

According to him, police arrived only 50 minutes after the call. But failed to find the attackers.

Petro Grygorichenko noted that he called the police several times, due to the fact that they have not arrived for a long time.

“The identities of attackers are obvious. They are people who call themselves members of the NGO Safety of Life. You can watch their presentation in the YouTube network. The organization is established by Ilya Kiva, Adviser to the Ministry of Internal Affairs of Ukraine”, – said the president of the Congress.

Aksana Filipishyna reported that Ombudsman’s representatives met with the Romani people.

“Representatives of the Secretariat of the Commissioner for Human Rights visited the scene of the incident, two appeals were addressed to the Head of the National Police Department in Kyiv in the context of the effectiveness of the investigation on the case of beating of Romani people, with an emphasis on the motive of intolerance that may be present in this incident. An inquire about the form of cooperation between the NGO Safety of Life and Ministry of Internal Affairs has been made. We are interested on what basis is the post of this organization located at the railway station. We need to understand what powers it has and whether it is related to the Ministry of Internal Affairs”, – said the Representative of the Ukrainian Parliament Commissioner for Human Rights.

It was earlier reported that human rights defenders, Roma public organizations and Office of the Ombudsman are concerned about the outbreak of intolerance towards Romani people in Ukraine. They call on the National Police to investigate hate crimes.